Iraqi government retake Mosul’s Old City area…

Iraqi military tanks advance towards the Islamic State-held Old City in western Mosul, Iraq June 18, 2017. REUTERS/Erik De Castro

Mosul (http://iraqnewsservice.com )Iraqi government forces took over a major area in western Mosul’s Old City on Monday, hours after the Islamic State militants launched a series of suicide attacks.

The Defense Ministry’s War Media Cell said the army’s Counter-Terrorism Service forces took over a first section of al-Farouq, the closest area to the Grand Nuri Mosque from where IS declared its rule in Iraq in 2014.

Al-Farouq district, western Mosul (google maps)

The achievement comes a few hours after IS launched a series of suicide attacks on Iraqi forces in the Old City, IS’s last refuge in Mosul where militants are currently cornered withina few hundred meters according to Iraqi generals.

Army capitan Jabbar Hassan told IRAQ NEWS SERVICE Agency that intense encounters broke out between security forces and militants in the Old City on the dawn of Monday, leaving a number of troopers wounded.

The attacks come one day after IS members attempted to retake the liberated Tenek district. CTS forces had regained control and repelled the assault after IS fighters set fires to civilians’ homes.

Also on Monday, IRAQ NEWS SERVICE Agency quoted Federal Police chief Shaker Jawdat saying his troops killed four IS members in Serjkhana neighborhood in the Old City after repelling an attack on the forces. He said forces cleared landmines from the